Sending unit locations
 

I will be soon installing the slightly smaller "cockpit style" VDO gauges in my center console for oil temp and oil pressure. Where are the factory sending units for the oil temp gauge and oil pressure idiot light located on the engine block? I will need replace these older sending units to use the new gauges.

The stock oil pressure sender is located on top of the engine just aft of the distributor. The aftermarket VDO sender is too big to fit in this location, so an "adaptor kit" is used. The kit is a piece of hose with the appropriate pipe thread fittings on both ends and a bracket that wraps around the sender. (The case of the sender must be grounded.) You screw the hose in (tough to do, poor access) and bolt the sender to a ground by its bracket. Mine is on the fan shroud.

The temp sender is in the front-left sump plate, the one that has two bolts holding it onto the bottom of the engine. There is a paper gasket and an O-ring as well as the crush washers for the bolts, and the rubber "boot" that goes around the wire. The sender has M14 threads, forget the pitch. I posted a couple of VDO part numbers to the 914 Rennlist http://www.rennlist.org a while ago. Do a search of the archives for "sender" and you'll probably turn up the post with the numbers.

Good luck!

--DD

Thanks for your usual excellent input, Dave. Is the "adaptor kit" you refer to one that you fabricated yourself, or is it available from VDO?

It should be available from wherever you get the sender from. Pelican carries it (hint, hint!). It's in the on-line 914 catalog, under "Gauges and electrical", last item in the Oil Pressure Gauge subsection.

I have no idea where you'd get the rubber hose with the NPT ends on it if you tried to DIY.

--DD